After another disappointing World Cup campaign, the Proteas face an uncertain future

By Pierre de Villiers




Where to now for South African cricket? Embarrassed in the World Cup and in desperate need of a decent coach, these are indeed uncertain times for the Proteas.
SA cricket needs to reassess and refocus but not before the powers-that-be pick through the wreckage of another putrid World Cup campaign.
When the Proteas capitulated against New Zealand, cries of “chokers” reverberated throughout the cricketing world.
Was South Africa’s depressing loss really just another pressure-induced failure by talented but mentally fragile players or should the selectors carry some of the blame?
Closer inspection suggests the latter.
Given South Africa’s record in World Cups there would always be a situation in India where panic spread like a gastro bug through the batting line-up during a tight run chase.
When that happened the Proteas would need players in the middle and lower order who could perform the Heimlich manoeuvre when the choke started. In the minds of the selectors the best candidates for the job was a player still establishing himself (JP Duminy), a rookie (Faf du Plessis) and, in Johan Botha and Robin Peterson, two blokes whose main job is to bowl teams out. Perhaps inevitably, they couldn’t get the job done when it counted against a disciplined New Zealand side.
When the rot set in against New Zealand, how much would South Africans have liked to see a warrior like Mark Boucher striding out to the wicket - a man who, on countless occasions, has batted with the tail to get the Proteas over the line. Or what about someone like Albie Morkel, an IPL star who could launch a counter attack and put the pressure back on the Black Caps? If the coaching staff still believe SA could have done without a player in the Lance Klusener mould they clearly didn’t see India’s Yuvraj Singh change games with his power hitting. Selectors have to be honest and admit they got the balance of youth and experience wrong at the World Cup, something they have to address if the Proteas are to become the best side in the world. Fortunately, such is the depth of talent in South Africa you can’t help but be optimistic about the future of the national side.
In Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers, South Africa have three batsmen who should find themselves in the top ten of the ICC ranking at all times, while Dale Steyn with his fast, late swing and Morne Morkel with that steepling bounce are the most feared opening bowlers in the world. Add the fact that the Proteas now have a genuine wicket-taking spinner in Imran Tahir and they will be a handful on any surface around the world, if well captained and coached.
Who, then, should step into the void left by the stop-gap measure that was Corrie van Zyl? India’s former coach Gary Kirsten seems the most natural choice. The way he managed the big egos in the Indian side was impressive and tactically the former South African opening batsmen got things spot on during the World Cup.
The question is whether Kirsten can strike up a good working relationship with Graeme Smith who, as Test captain, still casts a big shadow over the Proteas. If rumours – and Herschelle Gibbs’s controversial book - are to be believed Smith and a handful of senior players run the show when it comes to the South African cricket team, something Kirsten would certainly not abide. Throw in the spectre of political interference that forever hovers over SA cricket and Kirsten might just think that a lucrative IPL coaching contract is the way to go.
Whether SA cricket authorities have learnt from their mistakes at the World Cup and have made the right decisions will only become clear when a thoroughly humbled Proteas side take to the field again.
Hopefully by then South Africa’s most talented batsmen AB de Villiers will no longer be breaking his back behind the stumps, Gary Kirsten will be the man in charge and the South African cricket team will be hellbent on getting some seriously angry supporters back on their side.